| AdminHistory | Sir Daniel Fulthorpe Gooch (1869-1926) was the son of Daniel Gooch Senior, a renowned railway engineer, and famous for improving the design of the locomotive engine. As chair, Daniel Senior reorganized the Great Western Railway company. Daniel the younger, having become a highly skilled dog handler, was recruited by Ernest Shackleton for the Imperial Trans-Continental Antarctic Expedition, as a dog expert.
Daniel the younger joined Shackleton's expedition in 1914, but returned to Britain early the following year, when his home Hyland House near Chelmsford was requisitioned as a military hospital. He wanted to supervise the conversion, and the installation of modern medical equipment, which he did at his own expense. The ground floor of the house became the hospital wing, whereas some of the grounds were used for military training.
The closure of the hospital in April 1919 was marked by a 'Demobilisation Dance'*.
Sources of information:
'Bethnal Green: Estates' in british-history.ac.uk
'Gooch, Daniel Fulthorpe' in Scott Polar Research Institute
shackletonexhibition.com
*Friends of Hyland House |